


Falling

by Midnightdragon2



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-18 02:15:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16986219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Midnightdragon2/pseuds/Midnightdragon2
Summary: “Claudia!” Soren shouted, dashing towards the tree in a panicked run.Claudia was falling. Claudia was falling!





	Falling

**Author's Note:**

> So I got to participate in the TDP gift exchange on tumblr. Which was really fun so yay. Anyway, this was a gift to uwuezran but I figured I'd share it here too.

“Claudia!” Soren shouted, dashing towards the tree in a panicked run.

Claudia was falling. Claudia was falling!

He dashed forward quickly and without thought, trying to catch his sister before she hit the ground. He almost didn’t make it.

Almost. Thank the stars he did. She fell into his arms with a thud, her light weight still enough to make Soren stumble, then fall.

Dust flew up around them, getting in Soren’s hair and scratching his armor. He didn’t care. In his arms, Claudia lay unconscious. Limp. And that terrified him.

He glanced up at the tree, where the wasp-like thing with a long tail/stinger still buzzed with sick excitement. Soren wanted to throw his sword at it, or a rock, or something, but it would be a terrible idea. Right now, he needed to make sure Claudia was at least okay. After that, he’d decide.

“Claudia, c’mon, wake up.” He said, shaking her shoulders. The Scorpabuzzer or whatever Claudia had called it still buzzed. Soren glanced up at it again to make sure it hadn’t come closer. Then he went back to shaking his sister. “Claudia, you need to wake up, Buttercup is still hurt and if we don’t get going, we won’t catch up to the princes, dad is going to be really mad, and we’ll both be screwed. C’mon!” He tried to heft her up, but she was dead weight. She had no response what so ever. Not even when his hand slipped and she dropped like a stone in water. He hesitantly reached for her throat with two fingers, then placed them underneath her jaw and felt for a pulse.

He almost didn’t feel it. It was faint, weak. And it was getting weaker with every few breaths.

Not good, very, very not good. He froze, trying to think ‘for once in his damn life’ as his dad said often.

Buttercup snorted behind him as the wasp thing came closer again. She couldn’t run with a broken leg but Soren knew she wanted to. Stardust’s reigns were all that kept her from running. The black horse. Claudia’s.

The horse looked back, then came forward as best he could and leaned over an open book. A spell book. The horse’s eyes met Soren’s.

“No. I can’t do magic.” Soren insisted, crossing his arms. “I’m better with swords and weapons, I’m not like Claudia and Dad.”

Stardust snorted this time. Buttercup only gave a pained neigh.

Claudia still hadn’t moved. Soren tested her heartbeat again. His own almost stopped when he found her’s was even weaker than before.

He glanced at the book again. It was already on the right page, and everything was already grabbed. Claudia had been preparing a spell for Buttercup, for the leg. She said it could heal almost anything in a heartbeat. Maybe it would work on a sting, too. All he needed was a nut. From the very tall tree Claudia had gotten stung in and fell out of.

At least the wasp thing had buzzed off at some point. Or just disappeared.

He got up, watching the Wasp thing carefully. Well, this part he had down, at least. Doing dangerous things and stuff. He knew this part. He climbed carefully, pulling himself toward the top branch by branch. He didn’t like heights much. His armor felt heavy especially this high up. One slip and he would be a pancake on the grass below.

He had to shake that thought from his head quickly, before he ended up slipping. “C’mon, for Claudia. And your own skin.” He told himself, continuing to climb the tall tree. Did it get taller? He could’ve sworn it wasn’t this high before.

Every few branches he would look around for one of those nuts. He just needed the one. At least that’s what he thought. He had read that part, but sometimes things slipped.

Bad idea to think of things slipping when he was this high up.

He almost missed the brown, oval shaped object against the trunk of the tree. He ended up grabbing a false branch to reach for the nut, and just barely managed to grab it before he dropped.

He fell with a loud shout. Only a few feet probably, but it was enough. His heart beat loudly in his chest, his breathing was fast. He looked down. He should not have looked down. The ground was so far away. He almost puked.

Then his eyes settled on Claudia. She was over there dying and he was scared of heights. He was supposed to be the brave one and she was the one who climbed the tree and got stung because he didn’t want to. He had to do this.

He climbed down as fast as he could, trying to focus only on his need help his sister.

Touching the ground was a relief in itself, but he didn’t have time to feel relieved. He tested Claudia’s pulse again, then rushed over to the temporary work station Claudia had set up. He went through the ingredients on the page quickly, assuming what things were because he had no damn clue. The began reading instructions.

He never liked reading. It was difficult for him because he would always have to read the same thing over, and over, and over before he finally understood what it said. Which made him terrible at doing the things his dad and Claudia did. Not to mention that he was often impulsive. He would admit this only to himself. He was lucky this time that he did actually think instead of just acting. Otherwise, Claudia could die. Claudia could still die.

He hurried up and mixed things how he hoped they were supposed to be done. He had seen his family do this so many times but he had never done it himself ever. Hopefully this would work.

Once he was sure he mixed it as best he could, he lamely murmured the words the book said he would need to say, “sduonw eht laeh.” He expected glowing stuff to happen. Nothing glowed, Soren only felt weaker, and it only boosted his worry. But he wasn’t going to sit around and try over and over. Time was running out.

“Okay, so the book says you have to drink this.” Soren told the very unconscious Claudia, bringing the bowl closer. “Hopefully I’m right. If not, I’m pretty sure dad’s gonna kill me.” The joke was to calm his own nerves. Plot twist: The joke didn’t work.

He sat Claudia up, tilted her head back, and poured the liquid into her mouth. All of it. It didn’t say how much to give her. Then he watched desperately.

One second past. Then another. Nothing happened. He checked her heartbeat after the third. His own heart stopped. There wasn’t a beat.

Everything was silent. Even the horses. A buzz filled Soren’s ears, and this time it wasn’t a bug. He sat on his knees. She was dead. The spell didn’t work. He failed.

He killed his sister.

He brought a hand to his mouth, tears welling up. She was dead. The words repeated themselves over and over again: Claudia was dead, Claudia was dead… It was his fault.

“CLAUDIA!!!” He shouted, tears spilling down his face. He choked. He wasn’t sure on what.

He sat and sobbed for awhile after that, closing his eyes when the world around him began to blur. The buzzing consisted.

Until, quietly, he heard a small noise. A groan. He opened his eyes. Blue met green. Claudia smiled weakly.

“Grizzly grizzly Sorbear…” She joked quietly.

Soren couldn’t help but smile. Then laugh. He pulled her into a hug, more tears falling. “Don’t ever do that to me again.” He scolded, but he wasn’t mad. He only felt relieved because she was alive. Alive. “Dad would probably kill me if he found out you died.”

He felt Claudia tense, then slowly hugged him back.

“I won’t. Swear.”


End file.
